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Keeps Me Alive
Unexpected Enemy Dawn. The time in which life began to flutter from the void known as "slumber" and make their move into the world of light. It was at this time that the sun began to rise over the world, casting its warmth and orange light over the inhabitants who welcomed its return. Among them was Jason LaHote, a man with hair as orange as the star itself, who alone was awake out of his now seven person group. He sat on the edge of a cliffside, watching the sun rise as his mind drifted. Just yesterday, Iris, Blake, and his two grandchildren, Nozomi and Seika, had transported themselves after Jason due to his multiple month absence. As was typical of children led by a rambunctious squirrel, they hadn't thought their actions through and were stranded here with Jason, Giselle, Tsuruko and Solele, and Jason's companion Riskal. His brown eyes narrowed in slight frustration; Iris and Blake could handle themselves, surely, but his two grandchildren were where his concern jumped to. He had no idea of their combat potential and wasn't sure how comfortable he was letting his own flesh and blood run into a situation where a creature that resonated "despair" in every fiber of its being was making a point to pursue them. "How do I deal with these two...?" He muttered to himself. Giselle approached Jason, though in a way that just screamed "don't touch me you filthy casual". "Talk to them like you would if you were their friend." Giselle only had one friend, truthfully; and he was long gone from this world. "That way, it isn't you lording superiority over them, and talking to them on the terms of an equal." Jason craned his head back to see Giselle standing over him, with her general look of indifference. "That would require me to have had experience talking with 'friends' before," Jason replied pointedly, not in the least bit surprised at the cold woman's sudden appearance. And true to point; Jason may consider every guildmate his comrade, though multiple were more than that, he'd never had much experience talking to anyone in a casual, friendly setting. "Then make shit up." Giselle was awfully blunt about that. "I do it all the time." Thankfully, Tsuruko was out of ear-shot so she couldn't hear Giselle's words. Jason heaved a sigh, looking at the woman who was essentially his guide on this entire botched little trip. "It's safe to assume you had some issues as a parent," He concluded, standing up — it was amusing that he was taller than her, and yet all she had to do was push him off this cliff and her problems could be over. "Though I suppose there's a bit of merit to what you say; I'm just not sure how to handle having children thrown at me that I didn't even know existed." "You just deal with it. It's not that hard." Giselle replied simply. "And yes, issues is putting it lightly." Jason mulled over what Giselle said, before simply sighing to himself. He wasn't entirely sure if what Giselle had said was truly helpful — while he knew it had some merit, it wasn't something he could employ being as socially challenged as he was. As the sun rose higher into the sky, Jason saw the other girls begin to wake up, and knew the time for conversation was done. "Bonding with you was as delightful as always, Giselle," He said with a curt nod as he made his way over to the girls who were awakening. "I hope you choke on your own blood too." Giselle seethed. "Talking to you is like trying to cheer people up after Hurricane Katrina by saying it's like a big giant water park." Other words, not fun at all. It could be believed that Giselle hated Jason more than she did Amadam, but that was probably a lie. While she did have some respect for him, she just thought he was like that silver-haired idiot who used to hit on her daughter, albeit a fair amount more lifeless. "Always the woman of tact," Jason replied without missing a beat, before wisely putting distance between himself and this strange creature that called itself a woman. Blake was the first to wake up, yawning politely as she greeted Jason with a smile. "G'mornin'." She mumbled, clearly still half asleep. It was amusing to remember this was the feared demon, Gehaburn. "Good morning," Jason replied, pleased to be talking to a woman who wasn't going out of her way to seem like a distasteful person. "Anything on the to-do-list?" Blake asked, rubbing her eyes as she straightened the kimono she wore, before it slipped off and revealed her breasts to the morning sun. "A fair question," Jason replied. "Let's allow the rest of them to wake up before making any plans." "Zzzzzz...." Tsuruko, half asleep, turned over....And she fell straight onto her face; her head smacking against the ground. "No, Excellen, I don't want to feed you bacon while you're in the bathtub..." "...What." Giselle looked at Tsuruko incredulously. "That Excellen girl is a bad seed." For once, Jason and Giselle were in agreement. Passing over the sleeping mechanical construct — or would it be considered recharging? Did Tsuruko need to wound? — Jason knelt down near Solele, prodding the girl's shoulder with a deadpan expression. "Rrargh." Solele growled in her sleep. "Frick the hell off. I'm tired. Let me sleeeeeeeeep...." "Go away Dr. Peppers!" Iris yelled out with a shriek in her sleep. "Squirrels can detach their tails when threatened!" With his eye twitching with slight irritation, Jason decided to wake up Iris first, and committed the simple act of stroking the girl's tail — her signature weak spot. "Sweeeek!" Iris let out a playful yelp as she woke up. "Whassit, master? Are we finally going home? It feels like months!" "While I understand the sentiment, no, we're not returning home yet," Jason replied, and this was true, simply by the fact that the group had no actual way to return. "As soon as everyone has awoken, we can start to formulate a plan." Jason cast a quick look at Tsuruki and Solele, and figured waking them up in a standard way would take the entire morning. "Iris, can you please wake up these two, while I go tend to the children?" Jason asked, gesturing towards the silver and eggplant-tressed girls. "Suresies~" Iris leapt up onto her feet as her big, bushy tail wagged non-stop. Pouncing around, she instantly began to wake the two up. "Come on, no more sleep time, we've been here too long!" While everyone's beloved squirrel occupied herself with this, Jason walked over towards his sleeping grandchildren. Briefly pondering how many generations had to pass before none of his descendants had orange hair, he knelt down towards Nozomi, gently nudging the girl. As one would expect, a few years of living in the apocalypse made one a very light sleeper, and the instant Jason's hand touched Nozomi's shoulder, the girl's eyes shot open wide and her palm instinctively closed around her grandfather's wrist. She then swung her palm, pointed forwards, towards his face as if to impale. Without missing a beat, Jason's free hand flew up in a blur, batting the girl's frail hand away, which snapped her back into reality. "Oh...grandfather..." Releasing the vicegrip she had on his wrist — which Jason proceeded to rub reflexively — she settled down. "I'm sorry about that; living in the future, sleeping soundly never was an option." "That was my first assumption." Jason didn't hold the attack against the child; he'd seen worse. However, having learned from his mistake, he nudged Seika only once before quickly pulling back his hand. "What the fresh hell is this?" Seika turned over as she rubbed her dreary eyes. "It's too late. I need to sleep more." One could almost hear Giselle from a slight distance. "You damn people need to sleep less." "But mum, you haven't slept for thirty years, it's bad for your health." Sighing at the inevitably of the comedic inclusion of a sleepwalker, Jason — after several rough minutes — had managed to get Tsuruko and Solele awake, and thus the entire party was assembled. "I suppose the only question now, is what are we going to do?" Nozomi looked at everyone curiously. "We only threw ourselves into this dimension to bring back grandfather — we hadn't accounted on an entire group of people, as well as having to deal with being trapped here afterwards." "In short, we didn't think ahead, and now we're stuck going with the flow," Blake surmised neatly, leaning on Jason's shoulder. "Since the rest of you have been in this situation for longer than us, what's the plan?" "We find that dragon bastard, kick his ass to high hell, and then get out of here." Giselle bluntly stated. "That's...pretty much all the plans summed up. It may take some time, but you just need to keep pressing forward, that's all there is to it." "How eloquently put," Jason replied, his deadpan expression absolute. "Ironically, it's not much different than what we usually do," Blake replied, smiling confidently. "Besides, I wouldn't mind fighting alongside Jason again." As if capitalizing on the lack of Wendy, she kept herself clinging to the orange-tressed man's arm; Jason, as was typical, was used to this and didn't raise an objection. "Then shouldn't we get moving?" Nozomi suggested, as simply sitting around wasn't doing them any good in the first place. "About time. Even though a year feels like a second to me, this has been a truly agonizing wait." Giselle tapped her foot as she lightly nudged Tsuruko with it, causing a metallic *CLANG!* to resound. "Come on, let's get going so I can send you back to your own time." "Right, right..." Tsuruko scratched her head, her optic sensors scanning the area as she stood on her own two feet. "Wait..." Jason muttered, and this simple sound caught the attention of everyone present. "We may not need to go looking for anything at all — I feel another darkness approaching us." "Should we run?" Nozomi inquired, looking around as if she could see the 'darkness' her grandfather spoke of. "That would be pointless," Jason replied, remembering how they tried to outrun the other being from before. "There's no point in trying that now; it'll be here momentarily. Everyone brace yourselves." "SKREEONK!" A cold air rushed through the area; it gave Tsuruko chills. An intense pressure she had never felt before was coming from a magic-circle before her. A pressure that froze both her body and soul… She felt like a frog that was being glared at by a snake… A gigantic ominous thing started appearing from the magic-circle… Head. Torso… Black-wings. A cross…? Someone was impaled into a cross. Restraint tools were intensely binding its body. There were so many restraining tools placed all over its body and there were creepy letters written on the tools! There were ones that were placed on its eyes and there were tears of blood dripping from them. The moment its whole body appeared from the magic-circle, Tsuruko's breath stopped because of the bizarre existence. It had the lower-body of a……snake! No. There were scales on it. ……A skinny appearance like that of an Asian dragon. The upper-body of a fallen-angel and lower-body of a dragon! On both hands, tail, and all over its body, there were countless nails driven through! Even on its black wings. Just looking at its appearance told Tsuruko how painful it is. …… A pebble demon dragon……that was being restricted……? A crucifixation done to a criminal who has done something very serious…. The being looked like it was the personification of anger from the one who judged it. A creepy voice emitted from the criminal's mouth echoed throughout the city. From its mouth covered in fangs, there was blood and saliva coming out as well. Pain. Jealousy. Suffering. Resentment. A sound that was mixed with all kinds of negative emotions. A bead of sweat slipped down Jason's scalp as he took in the monstrosity. Once again, he found himself hesitating in the face of this new unknown — and this time, it didn't seem to be only him. While the waves of negativity were washing over on Jason clearer than anyone in the group, it was quite clear that very presence of this beast affected everyone on some level. This creature was the universe's despair, appearing before them all heralding naught but death. Nozomi, as if on instinct, clung to Jason's kosode; she had no idea what this creature was, but the sight of it burned fear into her very core. Even Blake could feel her hair stand on end; a feeling she was by no means familiar with. "Do you know what this creature is, Giselle?" Jason muttered, not tearing his eyes away from the horrifying spectacle even when he spoke. "It's that idiot again." Giselle sighed; as if this was an everyday occurrence. "Of course you can't beat him, Just focus on dodging his attacks, and only try and counter when you have the chance. I'll try and get the Time Ring fixed up." "Not the best odds, but they'll have to do," Jason muttered, visibly irritated with how easily Giselle waived his question and his own skill off to the side. However, he'd learned one thing on this little trip; Giselle is usually right, even if he loathed what she says. "I suppose there's nothing to do but fend him off until the silver-haired creature has that ring ready," With a flash of ebony steel, Blake moved in front of Jason, wielding a curiously designed black blade with a silver edge. "I see you took up a blade similar to my own," Jason noted the design was reminiscent of his previous Gehaburn sword, only smaller in stature, as well as possessing a thicker hilt with red markings lining it and three green jewels were a tsuba would be located. "There are some superfluous similarities, yes," Blake turned towards her former captor, and flashed a flirtatious smile. "But my Tarisyl is forged from Orichalum, and thus it surpasses normal human steel! Now, why don't I make the first move, my Master?" With the last two words dripping with a playfulness not seen before, bat-like wings erupted from Blake's back and the girl took flight. "A dragon like this...its weakest points aren't its thick and powerful hide...no, I need to strike for the eyes," Magical energy, vibrant and in emerald hue, coated the Orichalcum blade in an instant. Ascending towards the creature's vivid red eye, as big as her own body, Blake swung the sword downward towards the all-seeing ruby, the energy itself converged towards the tip of the blade before releasing and expanding, taking the form of an enormous, emerald dragon — a powerful, jade-hued creature — rushing toward's the true dragon's eye in a fury. "Saikurō!" She cried, her voice reaching the heavens to declare the name of this special technique. The enormous dragon simply roared, as the sound released from it's mouth dispersed Blake's spell. Iris leapt upwards, trying to climb up the dragon. Giselle just sat back and sighed, "Alright, do the opposite of what I told you, I don't give a fuck." "Instead of chattering, why not focus on your Ring, Giselle?" Jason suggested icily, his eyes on his foolish guild members. With this creature, simply standing around wasn't the best option; it would attack eventually, and thus the first option was to wear it down while it wasn't making a move at all. And besides, the Akatsuki guild had never made their career out of adhering to 'reason'. "Saikurō was entirely deflected...?" Blake blinked in shock, floating around the dragon's enormous head, trying to find some kind of weak point. On a creature with such thick hide, the eyes were certainly a guaranteed weak point; but this dragon seemed to be different. "Our attacks won't have any effect..." Jason thought; in spite of his earlier statement, all they really could do was stall until Giselle's ring was ready. "Instead of telling me what to do, which you have no right to do, how about you become a tad more competent?" Giselle snapped back. Tsuruko herself, looked up in surprise. "Where have I seen this thing before? ...Mum, why aren't you helping?" "How many times have I told you!?" Giselle shouted at her daughter, focusing on the ring. "He and I can't hurt each other, it's how that idiot programmed us!" Jason manifested a large black cleaver, Hagetsu into his firm grip, holding the blade aloft at his side. Focusing his magical energy into the blade, converging it all at the tip, he pointed it directly upwards at the draconic beast and swung it in an arc, releasing the familiar Pluvia Laminis — a torrential, upward rain of steel blades, towards the beast. The dragon roared as it released a concussive blast of energy towards Pluvia Laminis- eradicating all of the blades in one fell swoop. "Now that I think on it..." Tsuruko sat there, as the cogs in her head began to spin. "...Why isn't it talking? Something's wrong." "You know what this creature is?" Jason inquired, not the slightest bit surprised that his blast was deflected. It was convenient, if it was true, that Tsuruko knew the identity of this creature; Jason had the slightest hunch that Giselle knew as well and simply wouldn't ask if not prodded. "Think so." Tsuruko continued to look up at the thing, her eyes glowing. "Though this one seems a bit...different." "Different?" Iris shouted out as she continued to cling onto the dragon-demon-thing. "It has the same feeling and magical aura, but something's off about it. It's like I've encountered it before, but not in such a state." In the background, Blake was still finding no avail at this creature's hide, her frustration growing further. "I suppose I should rephrase," Jason replied curtly; like mother, like daughter, unless you asked the question just as one needed it, neither Tsuruko nor Giselle offered more than they needed to say. "What is this creature?" "It's probably a dragon." Tsuruko bluntly replied; almost uncharacteristically. "What else does it look like?" "The Dragon King's inbreed cousin from hell." Momoko called out, as she fired at the dragon rapidly with her twin pistols. "Well, that too." The dragon let out another mighty roar as its wings began to glow a sickly green. Jason grit his teeth; Tsuruko had far from answered his question, anyone with have a brain could see this creature was a 'dragon'. However, he had no time to dwell on the fact that mother and daughter were quickly becoming his least favorite people in the world; the magical power of this creature was skyrocketing past it's far incomprehensible levels. It was about to launch an attack. Charging up emerald energy, the dragon-thing began to suck eternano out of the atmosphere- instead it released several wingbeats, unleashing a powerful hurricane towards the group. "Hold on!" Tsuruko declared, as the Phoenix Driver shone an illustrious golden as a large runic circle erupted from the belt and smashed into the hurricane, repelling it before retracting towards Tsuruko- the runic circle began to engulf her. When the ring passed over her, a large golden phoenix erupted from Tsuruko's chest and flew around her, engulfing Tsuruko's body in the lights of the stars; Tsuruko's true Soul Armour manifested—azure and silver, with crimson fang-esque attachments adorning her facemask—overall, it had the motif of a bullet train. "Not bad for a mewling kitten," Blake commented from her airborne position, her eyes swiveling down to Tsuruko's now armored state. "However, you seem a tad rash, jumping in like that." After stating her commentary, Blake turned her attention back to the creature that needed it — this dragon. Even at the amount of magical power she was using, there had to be a way to dent it; some way, without drawing on further power. "With any armor, there should always be a weak spot to exploit; the question is, where in this dragon's scaly protection is there a weakness?" Jason wasn't the least bit perturbed by Tsuruko's sudden transformation; he found the armor's design to be fairly over the top, but, as a polite individual, he kept that commentary to himself. He held Hagetsu firmly in his grip, a cold wind began to whip around it. This wind cradled eternano in its grip, leading the magical particles in a spiraling dance around the blade, merging with Jason's immense output of magical energy, converging onto the blade; within seconds, the magical power had bonded with the stainless black steel, forging a powerful new blade composed of shining with luminescent brilliance; one of Jason's newest spells, the Omegaensis. Stepping forward, Jason vanished within seconds — far beyond any speed a High Speed user could hope to reach — closing the distance that separated himself and the coal-coloured demonic creature spawned from Hell itself in a matter of moments. Swinging his blade with pure brute force, Jason combined the immense enhancement of Omegaensis with a localized Ensistremor, creating an explosion of pure, unrestrained air pressure as he swung the blade alongside the underbelly of the creature. The demon-dragon, instead, formed an solid azure barrier around its body- anticipating Jason's blow... "That's it!" Tsuruko declared proudly. "I've zoned in on the finale." Tsuruko withdrew her gunblade, pointing it forwards. "Listen up!" She bemoaned talking outloud, whereas Team Daybreak always had unspoken plan guarantees. "Since it's covered itself head-to-tail in that barrier, it cannot possibly cover the whole body and it needs to have gaps in order to allow itself to fly and communicate with the outside world. The same goes for all of its energy attacks, they form its scales! I've noticed that its weakness is its glowing eyes." Iris, recently leaping off of the being, asked, "Why cha think that~?" "Because!" Tsuruko's voice suddenly lost the wind it had earlier. "They're glowing red!" "Who'da thunk." Iris sighed, as she charged magical energy into her gauntlets. "So everyone!" Tsuruko swung her gunblade back, backing up to get a running start. "ATTACK!" Seika made a thrusting motion with her hand, translocating Jason's explosion moments before it impacted into the dragon's eyes, blinding it furiously. "Granddad, hit it with the blade storm attack in the eyes!" "Jason, you handle the right eye, I'll strike the left," Blake called out, and Jason heeded her order. Channeling his own magical aura through the enhanced Hagetsu, Jason released a powerful Pluvia Laminis - Sagitta Magica — a single condensed Pluvia Laminia, from his blade, the spear erupting forward towards the glowing red sphere of the creature. Blake took a deep breath, and through her calmed state, she began to channel a crackling current through her limbs — a unique kind of electricity created by her Darkness Magic. Thrusting her fingers forward, a single, powerful jolt of lightning thundered from the woman's pale fingertips, shooting towards the red eye like a lightning rod. "SKREEEE!" The dragon-demon let out a loud screech and momentarily vanished- dissapearing into a cloud of smoke. "...Don't let your guard down!" Tsuruko shouted as she readied her gunblade. What emerged from the smoke was...a young woman with very long, violet hair tied into a ponytail, and soulless red eyes. She wore a white and red asian-style outfit reminiscent of an empress, tied with a light blue sash, with a golden crown and a dark cape over her shoulders. "EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?" Tsuruko exclaimed in surprise. "That's not who I was thinking of!" "The Sengoku Joya period was forged by my hand, as an illusion. As I control time and space, I managed to pull you all in to destroy you all at once." "...Huh." Giselle expressed brief surprise. "Didn't I kill you by draining Edolas of its magic?" She paused, turning to Jason. "Ignore that for it bears absolutely no meaning on your childhood, orange range." "If Edolas desires an exalt, then I shall never perish." "...And why do you look like me?" Tsuruko asked, confused. "It is the ideal image. While I cannot copy your special power, I can copy the desired appearance of the ultimate power wielder." "...Giselle, I have half a dozen questions to ask you, but I'll save that for after we finish up here," Jason said icily, feeling as distant from this woman as was humanly possible. He felt his entire body shudder; this woman, who was she? He couldn't deny there was something familiar about her, and yet she was just as dangerous, if not more so, than the dragon they were facing seconds before. Blake descended to the ground, her bat-like wings contracting back into her shoulder blades. A look of recognition crossed her countenance, and the expression was far from a pleasant look of one who recognized a friend. "I thought I recognized a magical signature like yours...you've taken on a different body, but that's definitely you...Chakravartin." "Ah well, I'll remove you from this world like I did before." Giselle spun her blade around her wrist. "Another Chronoslayer'll take you down, I'll keep hitting you with it as long as it takes." "That would be most unwise." Chakravartin hissed at her- enormous draconic arms spawning forth from her back. With the flutter of ebony locks, Blake stood between Giselle and Chakravartin, her crimson spheres locked onto the Tsuruko-alike. "Apologies, Giselle, but if you don't mind, I'm going to step in here," She brandished Tarisyl, the blade glinting with a demonic light, towards Chakravartin. "I'm as familiar with her as you are, and to be honest, its been quite a long time since we've last been acquainted." Giselle stepped back casually. "Just don't die." "You were much more productive when you were that orochi-esque being, Gehaburn." Chakravartin sneered. "As of now, you look like you traded heads for great stonking tits." Let it be said that what was essentially Satan didn't have a sense of humour. In an instant, a sword of black flame formed into Chakravartin's hand. "As if I chose this kind of body," Blake retorted, realizing the attitude of this woman hadn't improved in any of the tens of thousands of years in which she'd last seen her. "You can thank him," She gestured to Jason, "for this body." Solele, who had since been MIA for the duration of these events, shot Jason a very stony glare. "But enough of this," Blake dismissed any apparent dissatisfaction over her current situation with ease. "Now, let's get down to business." She began to give off a faint, emerald glow, magical energy seeping from her pores and rising like steam. It quickly began to increase its intensity, creating a powerful force of pure magic energy that began to crack and shatter the ground; plants decayed and soil withered. Gehaburn was steadily returning to the surface. Wings erupted from her back, and within seconds, she flickered out of sight, reappearing within range of the purple-tressed woman, her blade held aloft at her side. Without warning, she thrust her blade forward, performing a powerful spin on the sword and her own arm — to anyone who had seen Jason fight, this was a familiar technique; the one and only Draco Spiralem. Chakravartin simply raised her flaming blade, deflecting the sword straight-on with ease. "Weak." Levitating into the air, the exalt of Edolas' enormous black wings rushed out from her back, which flicked back and forth, releasing several high-powered tornadoes from the wings towards Blake. Blake's wings extended like a bird intimidating an enemy, making a wide leap; in a move of brilliance, she used the lift from the top of the tornadoes to propel herself further into the air — gaining lift with no effort on her part. Floating level with Chakravartin, the winged Valkyrie split the air, creating a sonic boom as she closed the distance between herself and unholy creature within seconds. "She certainly seems intent on killing this woman," Jason thought, watching intently as he rubbed the back of his skull — where Solele had punched him mere moments ago. Gusts of wind wafted over them as Blake disturbed the air with her very movement. "She's...amazingly fast," Nozomi noted. The girl had been far too terrified to take action against that draconic creature, but now that the entity seemed far more human, she felt at tad more at ease. Certainly, if Blake failed, grandfather could handle anything in a human skin, couldn't he? At point blank range, Blake released a slash of shadowy energy from the tip of her sword, which expanded and enveloped Chakravartin within seconds. "Stop boring me." Chakravartin, with a swish of her hand, dissipated Blake's attack. "If you are not going to give your best, then stay..." Chakravartin made a thrusting motion with her blade, releasing an overwhelming inferno of hellfire towards Blake instantly. "Down." The glowing embers twirled down, enveloping her in a storm of red, orange, and yellows. Pain seared through the nerves of her body as the flames began to heat her body down to the very bones. Blake, however, didn't intend to fall her from simply a set of embers. She wrapped her bat-like wings around her body, before extending her wingspan in a massive movement that release a gust of wind that pushed the flames away from her, extinguishing them. The woman panted, a beat of sweat slipping down her scalp. Her body was singed, however, the true damage was done to her mikō outfit. Her kosode was slightly shredded, missing the entirety of the left sleeve and partial ripping of the right; additionally, the centre of the kosode revealed a cleavage window, and her hakama was torn up right side to expose much of her thigh. "She's as powerful as ever," Blake noted, dusting herself off, before her face slipped into a smile. "And yet I can't deny I'm having quite a bit of fun." Her tongue flickered out, quite like the serpentine creature she used to be. "Why rush things, Chakravartin?" Blake crowed, extended her arms out as if embracing the air. "Certainly someone as illustrious as yourself can spend a little playtime with someone like me?" "I have no time to waste on you, weakling." Truly, before the might of an exalt, a demon like Gehaburn was weak. Teleporting high into the sky, she swung her blade downwards, tearing the skies asunder as a rain of meteors collapsed downwards. "You may forget, but as the originator of Elucifer, I have access to all of his powers on a much higher scale, making me invincible."' "I may be nothing more than your fragment, something you created to war endlessly with another splinter of yourself," Blake seethed, cleaving one of the meteors in half without any effort, the force of her blast shattering several meteors that were located behind the first. "You wanted me to come at you like I was serious; if you want it, then let's tango, Chakravartin!" Focusing her magical energy, Blake began to crackle with a powerful surge of electricity. "Eight Branches of the Lightning Serpent!" The tongues of hissing currents flowed around Blake, expanding outwards with multiple powerful surges of an energetic current. The lightning shot throughout the sky, rending asunder every falling meteor without even designating them as a target. Blake proceeded to wrest control of the lightning from nature, bnding it to her own will, forcing it to converge together and manifest into a giant serpent which has eight heads, all composed of lightning instantly. The serpent was gigantic, towering over everything in the vicinity and making even Chakravartin look like a small fly floating next to a gargantuan beast. "So this is it...a lightning effigy of her previous form," Jason watched the fight was amazement, relaxing his grip on Hagetsu, having been prepared to destroy the rest of the descending meteors. "Is this...Gehaburn?" Nozomi looked on in shock as the lightning began to take up as much space as it could, forcing everyone to leap back to avoid getting in the way. Blake leaped onto the head of one of the serpents, the lightning hardening its exterior and cooling the magical particles on its surface to create a solid lightning construct. Three of the beasts heads reared backwards before lunging forward at Chakravartin, enhanced by the malice of Blake as they eyed the woman like dinner. Chakravartin merely smirked and erected a dome-shaped barrier around her body. "Foolish. Even as a giant orochi, you are naught." "A barrier!" Blake hissed in irritation; of course, it wasn't like she hadn't expected Chakravartin to defend herself. The electrical serpentine create reared three of its heads back once more, before slamming itself down onto the sphere once more. In tandem with this movement, Blake unleashed thundering bolt of electricity from her fingertips towards the spherical barrier. Chakravartin simply reinforced the barrier, nullifying the electricity as she released the barrier out as an external force, aiming to push Blake away. Raising her flaming sword upwards, the exalt, swung the sword forward, releasing several dozen arcs of flame towards Gehaburn, or Blake. Beating her wings with the might of a great dragon, whirling cyclones of air took control of the flames for themselves, creating spiraling whirlwinds of flame under Blake's own command. Continuing in their course, the pillars of dancing flames flew towards Chakravartin. Without missing a beat, one of the hydra heads craned itself a distance underneath Chakravartin, opening its mouth to release an uncompressed, immensely fast bolt of electricity, hundreds of times larger and stronger than anything Blake could form on her own, directly at the woman. Chakravartin merely teleported out of the way, landing on top of the orochi's main head. With that, she swung her flaming blade around, aiming to impale the creature through the head, in her bid to end the battle. "Shit, how did she-?" Blake was caught by surprise, unable to reach the main head in time to defend it against the piercing blade of Chakravartin. Through some means, the blade rent asunder the bonds that held the eternano together as a solid entity, causing the creature to violently collapse. "In seconds, she destroyed it," Jason noted as the ground shook from the resulting destruction of the orochi. "Truly, if I was to fight this woman, I wouldn't be able to win. However...Blake doesn't have a chance either." He knew, however, that interfering with simply be met with stubbornness on Blake's part. "How do you intend to get out of this, Blake?" The orange tressed man thought to himself. "Perish already." Chakravartin's exalt wings manifested- expanding outwards, they revealed themselves to be black, crow-like wings with the imagery of galaxies and stars embedded within them. Quickly, the wings covered the area, as crimson energy began to pool at the top of the dome formed. "I don't intend to die, not by your hand, Chakravartin!" Blake bombastically announced. "Sorry about this, Jason. Your seal was pointless, after all." Without hesitation, she felt an anchor-like feeling be removed from her body; with an explosion of energy, the demonic power began to converge on Blake as she prepared to unleash her full might on Chakravartin. "For you, my progenitor, I will defy what ''that Jason died to ensure," Blake thought furiously as her own aura whipped around her, emitting pulses of black. ''"My Ingress Magic will be needed to handle you." The aura amassed into a cocoon that enveloped her. The formation of this object began to have an adverse effect on the very environment; the very sky began to twist and write as clouds masked the sun from their view and creating hues of blue and grey. "This feeling..." Nozomi quivered next to her grandfather as Seika's stare hardened like diamond. She knew this dreaded feeling better than anyone besides her cousin; this familiar, immense and suffocating magical aura was the demon known by several names — among them Deidarabotchi and Fuhengareeima Ipponboshi — it was Gehaburn. "So she's releasing the seal," Jason felt Nozomi grip into his side in fear of the aura, and he held her close. Was Blake really that desperate? With a powerful burst of pure black aura that spiked into the sky as a pillar, the cocoon hatched, revealing her new form. While not changing her human appearance in the slightest, the form bestowed six black angelic wings upon Blake; while transforming her attire to that of a skimpy dominatrix outfit. "Forgive me for the prolonged transformation; subtlety has always been a trait of mine that's practically nonexistent. And yet who knows that better than you?" "Silence." Chakravartin remained stoic as ever, not even reacting to Blake's new form. "Cast the first strike already, I tire of these games." Without missing a beat, Blake rose her hands into the air; following their sweeping motion, manifestations of darkness began to follow suit — it took Jason only a quick glance under his own feet to realizing Blake was manipulating actual shadows. Stretching like tendrils, the substance snaked into the air at breakneck speeds, taking the form of spears to lance through Chakravartin's being. Chakravartin simply raised her blade, and defended herself from Blake's onslaught. Swinging her flaming blade around, an enormous, six-eyed, eldtrich dragon manifested behind the exalt of Edolas, rushing forth towards Blake in response. "I can handle that little sweetie," Blake tore upwards, moving in tandem with the dragon as if to match its movements — before rocketing right past it, creating a sonic boom by disturbing the air with her speed. In Blake's stead, the shadows, created from her Eireizoku magic, rose into the air, mimicking the form and size of the dragon that opposed it. The two behemoths clashed before Jason, Tsuruko, and the others, while Blake sped towards Chakravartin until she was within the woman's range; their eyes locked, red on red. "Fear Wheel of Eternal Darkness," After a momentary pause, Blake gathered still more shadows, specifically her own, and molded them into the form of a razor-sharp disk of darkness, each possessing four, sharpened emerald blades. While still maintaining her distance, but not enough that she could be mistaken for avoiding Chakravartin, Blake lobbed the disks towards her opponent like shuriken. "Hmph." Chakravartin defended with her flaming blade- swatting the discs away like a tennis play would smack tennis balls away. With a snap of her fingers, the dragon manifested by her magical energy pushed ahead. In addition to this, the exalt of Edolas launched a sphere of flame towards Blake after she had deflected the discs, aiming to knock her flying point-blank. Blake's shadow dragon wasn't one to let up in the slightest, reforming within moments of destruction and resuming its own bout with Chakravartin's imitation creature, causing the very ground to shake with its movements. "That won't cut it!" Blake retorted, crossing her arms above her head. With the exception of the dragon dueling with the imitation Chakravartin constructed, began to converge above her, taking physical shape and compressing into a small, compact black sphere with white dots inside it, similar to the night sky. Launching the orb into the sky, the effects could be felt immediately; whatever this sphere was, despite its small size, its mass was enormous; enough that it began to develop its own gravitational field. "W-what is this!?" Solele gasped as the tugging pull of the sphere began to be felt everywhere on the surface. "Gravity," Jason replied darkly, his eyes watching the sphere with trepidation. "This is Tenchikaimei, a spell Blake devised far before Hephaestus sealed her in that human form. Despite the small size of that sphere, the magical power used to create it gives it a substantial mass enough to create its own gravitational pull. And we're standing right in the thick of it." "What do we do!?" Solele shouted in a panic; the ground began to crack, and crumble, rising into the air towards the sphere itself. Trees began to uproot themselves, floating upwards; even Chakravartin's sphere, for all of its power, was sucked into the Tenchikaimei was well, negating any possibility of harming Blake with that attack. "Simply stay close to me," Jason replied. Within seconds, a soft, burning glow began to emanate from his body; magical energy, which enveloped every person standing on the surface — including Giselle and Tsuruko, who arguably didn't need any protection from this spell — wrapping them in what appeared to be very scaly wings, spread around them like a cradle. "This...?" Solele cast the wings an odd look, as if they were something she recognize. "Is this what I think it is?" "You'd be right," Jason replied shortly. "Good..." Blake, meanwhile, was pleased to see Jason had taken preventive action. Casting her own sphere a glance, a smile crept across her face; beneath her now, excepting where Jason and their comrades stood protected, was a gargantuan crater. Where the black orb had been, a large orb of earthen rock, quite like a moon, floated imposingly. "Tenchikaimei." Blake flicked her finger in the direction of Chakravartin, the orb descending towards the woman at ludicrously high speeds for an object of its size, much like a meteor. Chakravartin was instantly engulfed by Blake's attack. Darkness surrounded her body, as it ate her up. As the darkness quelled, Chakravartin revealed herself, no worse for wear. "You seem to have become stronger. However, while you are stronger, I am the strongest." Instantly, Chakravartin threw her arms up into the air, gathering the eternano that was ambient in the air from all across the dimension. The eternano converged into her hands, forming a truly enormous sphere of astounding destructive power. The eternano being drawn to the sphere took the visual form of sparkling, glittering wisps. A calm breeze raged away from the sphere, which turned into a strong continuous gale and expelled radiation of an Northern Lights-esque aurora. Eventually, this sphere gathered enough energy to separate into twin galaxy-looking discs, which Chakravartin's exalt wings transfigured into a writhing mess of tentacles and clutched the galaxies, slamming them together, melding together into a truly enormous sphere which held untold power. Declaring, "Burn to the very last scrap of DNA. Infinite Storm." The exalt of Edolas launched the sphere at Blake at a horrifying velocity, expanding into a highly destructive wave which held the power of something beyond Etherion, vaporizing anything it came into contact with. "What is this pressure!?" Jason grit his teeth, the immense energy from Chakravartin's attack manifesting as a pressure that could be detected even deep within the protective recesses of his wings. He eased the hold on the wings to the degree that he could perceive the outside world. "That attack...I can't stop it and keep fighting her," Blake realized quickly, her expression changing from shock to a hardened determination within only moments. The former primordial spread her wings wide, the wingspan exceeding that of any bird, before coating herself in a bright glowing light. "Haguro Ryūō Jōshō Toppa!" A burst of black energy exploded from her arm in a fury; a black, feathered dragon created from her darkness. Without a hint of hesitation, the woman flew full pelt towards the all-encompassing beam of heated energy, before her own vision was blurred with the light. She thrust her arm forward, the dragon being released along with the force of her blow to collide with Chakravartin's Infinite Storm. "You're right, Chakravartin..." Blake grunted as she faced down the energy blast with her own will. The spiraling shadow dragon drilled into the Infinite Storm, seemingly keeping it at bay; sparks of energy, beams of light flew off in every direction. "You are the strongest. But that's only so long as humans continue to fight you alone!" Unable to withstand the energy completely, Blake's dragon crumpled under the pressure and the beam hit her full force, pushing her backwards as she fought to keep the deadly attack away from her comrades. "Giselle...and that idiot...and even the purple-haired girl...they can't be expected to be around and put you back to sleep forever! So this time...I'm leaving something for the humans to pave their way with!" "She's can't be...!" Jason, who was listening to every word with the rest of the group, felt his eyes widen. Not again, not another comrade going to their death! "Alpha Raze." At the mention of these words, a rift formed in front of Blake, compressing darkness energy between herself and the heated beam of energy. Within seconds, unable to fully charge it, the spell ruptured, releasing all of the energy between Blake and the Infinite Storm — the resulting explosion caused a chain reaction with the Infinity Storm, disturbing the blast's own internal flow of magical energy. Much like Alpha Raze, it ruptured, exploding in a truly spectacular show of light, blinding anyone watching. As the explosion died down, Blake's body was hurled backwards by the force, crashing onto the ground. It took several moments for her to realize her lower body was missing — it had been so quick and burned through so efficiently that she hadn't immediately noticed. Her upper body and face showed multiple burns as well. The fact that she survived was naught but a miracle. "Blake!" On impulse, Jason immediately dropped his barrier, vanishing on the spot before materializing on his knees next to Blake's severed upper torso. "You...you idiot!" Giselle simply looked away. "...It shouldn't have ended like that, dammit." Iris, predictably, burst into tears. "Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!" She smashed the ground with her fist, causing a miniature crater to erupt. "First Viv, now you! I won't let it happen again, I swear it!" Tsuruko's eyes...began to glow golden. Noticing Tsuruko's eyes, Chakravartin turned to her. her stoic personality fading momentarily. "So, the destruction of a comrade causes everything to revert to zero, hmm..." "She wasn't a comrade." Tsuruko drew her gunblade, as a golden aura shrouded her body. "I don't know who she is, but even so...seeing people cry, I won't let it happen when I'm around." "I should have backed you up, anything to prevent this!" Jason, contrary to his normal stoic and quiet demeanor, was actually shouting now. The only person who'd seen this kind of display before was Solele, years ago when Jason was still a rash young child. "Why did you insist on going in alone!?" Madly, Jason clenched at the woman's arms as he cradled her torso in against himself. Blake couldn't help but bring herself to smile. "What's this...?" She coughed, extending a charred hand to touch Jason's face. "You, Jason, showing emotion over someone like me...?" Chuckling weakly, her fingers slid down his face to his chin. "You really have come a long way...both of us, the oldest of partners. Now just stay still..." "Stay still!?" Jason grit his teeth. "I'm not going to just sit here while you rot away; there has to be a way to heal you! I can't...I can't let someone else die in front of me!" "Listen to me for once...!" The black-tressed woman snapped, her forefinger and thumb gripping Jason's chin with as much strength as she could muster. "Don't fall to pieces on me now...not when you've always been so strong...you'll falter before that grandmother of mine." "What?" Jason blinked in confusion; what was she trying to tell him? "You're going to be my final gift to these humans..." With that as her final word, Blake brought Jason's lips to hers, using her penultimate action to kiss the spiky, orange tressed man full on the mouth. The action may have surprised Jason, but he did nothing to resist, reciprocating the action instead. Within several moments, Blake began to glow a bright blue, and in Jason's arms, she broke down into brightly glowing flames. "What's...happening?" The flames licked at Jason's arms and torso before immersing his entire body in their heat. The raging flame began to become absorbed into Jason's being; residual energy adding onto Jason's already immense magical powers. Orange tresses lengthened out to locks as dark as the night sky. The upsurge of magical energy had ripped the kosode he wore, but in its place, bluish-gray bandages had formed around his body, tightly wrapped around his torso, right arm, and face, ending just beneath his eyes. In finality, a black, flame-like marking emerged from the center of Jason's chest, and had spread out to both sides, covering his shoulders. In a flickering blaze, blue and black energy surrounding Jason, emanating upwards like a pillar of fire. Chakravartin simply blinked, not really phased at all. "So you took upon a new form. What difference does it make?" Instinctively, she turned to Tsuruko instead. "Zero Effect...it's burning." Chakravartin's exalt wings formed once more, as she launched a barrage of razor-sharp feathers outwards. "I'' am your opponent!" Jason declared, flicking his wrist casually in the direction of Tsuruko; her shadow itself manifested in physical form, deflecting the feathers with its own hand. "Do best to remember it." With a flourish of movement, Jason closed in on Chakravartin, summoning a flickering sword made entirely of shadow itself; in a move that surprised everyone, the black-tressed Esper succeeded in making a clean diagonal slash along the woman's body; the price she paid for being too preoccupied with Tsuruko Sejren. '"Not half-bad."' Chakravartin's azure flames shrouded her body, regenerating instantly. '"It seems that I underestimated you. Then again, you LaHote people have the habit of being overly powerful, almost irkingly so."' Teleporting backwards, she simply aimed her flaming sword as she turned her eyes toward her target and held up the sword once more. A gapless wall of explosions was sent toward Tsuruko Sejren. There were so many explosions that they seemed to blend into each other. Tsuruko did not hold up her hands, to activate the Zero Effect. Instead, she turned her body to the side as if weaving her way through a crowded train and stepped slightly forward. The puny girl's body slipped skillfully through the wall of thousands or tens of thousands of explosions. '"As expected."' Chakravartin smirked. '"That power will be most useful when I devour it."' "I kinda doubt that!" Tsuruko triumphantly declared, as she managed to get in close. Instantly, Chakravartin's azure flames began to form a barrier... ...Only to be negated, the flames burning into ash. WHAM! Tsuruko's fist slammed straight into Chakravartin, striking her right in-between the eyes. A sickening *crunch* resounded, as Tsuruko immediately followed up by grabbing her arm. "Jason, now, while I've negated her magic!" "Without hesitation!" Jason grit his teeth under the bandages. The energy around him surged in a pillar of murky flames; this aura spread out, spearing into the ground over a hundred times and manifesting as a hundred replicas of his own signature weapon, Hagetsu. "Hundred-One Sword Style," Announcing the name of his signature fighting style, Jason sent a telepathic cue to dozens upon dozens of blades, telekinetically manipulating them into assuming a certain formation, causing the blades to undergo a unique fusion. Adding his own magical energy as a bonding agent, these blades coalesced and became a colossal screaming dragon made of steel, demonic looking as its entire body is spiked, creating a fearsome sight to behold. Despite its metallic nature, the dragon let off a light green aura, a soft glow that struck fear into the hearts of the weak-minded. "Infinitum Ultimo." Jason's brown irises flashed a bright, ominous red at the formation of this new creature. Upon its own formation, the creature recognized Chakravartin instantly as an enemy, and rushed forward. In its wake, the ground was destroyed, torn, ripped asunder by the sheer force of the dragon's own power. Within seconds, it enveloped Chakravartin, slamming into her with overwhelming force. '"...!"' Chakravartin was blown back by Jason's attack- the dragon smashing into her body at high speeds. Catching herself in mid-air, Chakravartin began to charge up a volley of azure fireballs. '"Excellent. Everything is as I have forseen."' Tsuruko herself, shouted, "DID YOU SEE THIS COMING!?" Tsuruko put all of her strength into her left fist. A great noise exploded out. Tsuruko's fist slammed into Chakravartin's face that had never once received an attack from anyone and Tsuruko's powerful enemy was knocked to the ground with no loss in momentum. Barely catching herself, Chakravartin snapped her fingers. The twinkling of the stars in the sky was an ominous ill omen. Each and every one of them transformed into a sharp spear of light and poured down like rain. Jason took a stance, bracing himself for impact— — only for a blur to sweep by him, shattering the light spears with only his own passing movement. The blur materialized into human form directly in front of Jason, and the black-tressed Esper's eyes widened in shock at the revelation of their saviour. "Jonas...?" "Sorry I'm late," Jonas replied, straightening his straw hat as fragments of light fell around them like rain. "I really hate it when I make a false prediction." Dusting himself off, he turned away from Jason and the others, to look at the ominous form of Chakravartin. "I expect ''him, and yet I find you, Chakravartin. Can you imagine my surprise?" Chakravartin hissed at Jonas, "You certainly appear out of nowhere." Her blazing sword ignited further, as she began to charge towards him. "Jeez, you old fart." Giselle sighed as she scratched her head. "You certainly like appearing and vanishing with the snap of the fingers." Truthfully, it ran in the family. "All of you, make haste and get out of here," Jonas ordered sharply, taking a stance in preparation to square off with Chakravartin. "This reality, created by the woman you see before you, can easily be undone by myself. I'll give you lot the chance to escape the moment Chakravartin and I clash." "How can you hope to handle her?" Jason queried, looking at Jonas with sharp eyes. "What are you, Jonas?" "That's an explanation for when we all make it out of here alive." The man replied quickly. "You Mercurys seem to have the habit of appearing out of nowhere to ruin my day." Chakravartin snarled like a wild beast. "Blazeblade." The flaming sword extended into the sky, piercing the deep blue above, before Chakravartin brought her weapon- and the sky- down upon her enemy, the weapon hurtling towards Jonas. "Chakravartin, you know what they say," Jonas replied shortly, and from his stance the man began to sway, as if he was becoming dizzy and losing his own balance. Swaying backwards, the man swung forward again like a pendulum jacked up on cocaine; using a wide, swinging arc, he swung his bare palm into the Blazeblade, slamming it, along with Chakravartin's sword arm, down into the ground. The resulting crash sent a shockwave throughout the earth, creating a delayed explosion that sent large chunks of earth and rock flying. The end result was a crater larger than any meteorite could have made, with Jonas and Chakravartin standing straight in the middle. "Loose lips sink ships," The man finished, intent on keeping the woman from speaking further. "Giselle, your Ring should be ready now. I've already routed it's course to Earth Land. Go!" Giselle sighed. "You know I could take her without any help, right?" And she was correct about that. "Fine, fine. If you get your ass kicked, I'm not coming back you, old fart." Giselle thrust her hand outwards, as a portal manifested in front of her. "Alright, children, get in." Iris asked curiously, "What about Tsuruko?" "She can't return to our time." Momoko added. "She'll be fine. She'll find her way back." Giselle immediately shut them down. "How do you know that?" "Do you forget whose daughter she is?" Giselle manifested a portion of her magic reserves into a sphere, throwing it towards Tsuruko. "Tsuruko, that should keep you recharged. Now show that bitch how a Mercury fights." Tsuruko nodded. "Alright!" Chakravartin hissed, "Damn you Mercury..." "Which one?" Tsuruko asked as she tilted her head. "Damn you Mercurys." As the main group vanished into the portal with Giselle, Jonas leap backwards to stand side-by-side with Tsuruko. Keeping his stance, and never averting his gaze from Chakravartin, he spoke to Tsuruko, "I suppose this will be the first time you and I have ever had a fight whilst watching each other's backs. Although this might be a bit late, I have to wonder, Tsuruko, what that says about me as a grandfather." "Not like mum fights with me either. She's usually there to save me, not fight with me. To be fair, not many people have fought with me, except Gary." Tsuruko made a gesture- she raised both of her hands with her thumb-index and finger-pinky raised. "I think the apple fell from the tree a bit far off." Chakravartin sighed. "To think I was going to steal your body, but I certainly don't want to inherit your mannerisms." "Restriction 666 released!" As she recited the words that were engraved in her mind and body, Tsuruko's arm began to transform into something inhuman. It was as if it was created from hardened darkness. It was a black and sinister big arm. Noticing it, Excellen flinched for a moment with her movement stiffened as she found out about it. Despite everything, Tsuruko ran, preparing the jet black arm. "Demon Host Detected; All Limiters Deactivated!" As she said the words, countless green lines ran down Tsuruko's arm. She felt a great deal of power that could crush anything. "Code: Dust to Dust, Activate!" The round orb in the back of Tsuruko's arm flickered as if it was blinking. The DTD had awakened. Clad in the flickering Source of Magic, her fingers' form were transformed. Tsuruko yelled out and charged even further forward. "Now, it's showtime!" With a great noise, Tsuruko kicked the earth, cleared away the rising mist, and charged in toward the exalt of Edolas. And then Chakravartin knew; she knew essentially what kind of existence the enemy before her was. Tsuruko put all of her strength into her left fist. "The finale!" A great noise exploded out... ...And a wave of emerald light covered Sengoku Joya, causing it to crumble. END